


The Head and the Heart

by NeverAndAlways



Category: Pacific Rim
Genre: 1 Sentence Fiction, 50 Sentences, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-14 02:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1249732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverAndAlways/pseuds/NeverAndAlways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I found the '50 sentences' challenge, and wanted to try it (I don't know if I'm doing it right, though; if I've broken any rules, please tell me and I'll take this down as soon as I can). I think this theme is set Alpha; the relationship is Newton and Hermann.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Head and the Heart

1\. Comfort

The night after his Drift with the kaiju brain, Newt has a panic attack that leaves him shaking and curled up in the fetal position, and Hermann doesn't know whether to comfort him or call 9-1-1- but in the end, the mathematician stays with him, rubbing circles into his back until he's able to sleep.

2\. Kiss

When the countdown clock turned to zero for the last time, Newt found himself kissing Hermann like it was the only thing keeping him alive- and Hermann found, to his surprise, that he didn't mind. 

3\. Soft

Hermann's hair, when it's not drowned in gel and combed straight, is quite soft, and Newt has spent many early mornings carding his fingers through it before Hermann wakes up.

4\. Pain

On his worst days, the pain in Hermann's leg is almost constant and he can hardly walk, but Newt is always nearby to act as a crutch.

5\. Potatoes

They were the last thing he expected to find in the Shatterdome, but there they were nonetheless: potatoes, crates upon crates of them, stacked nearly to the ceiling.

6\. Rain

Newton leaned against the concrete wall and didn't even care about the rain soaking him to the skin: Hermann- Hermann, who was always so grouchy and aloof- had said "I love you", and nothing else in the world mattered. 

7\. Chocolate

It turns out Hermann has a fondness for chocolate; for Valentine's Day, Newt managed to get a box of Toblerone chocolates and left them on Hermann's desk, and although he didn't say anything about it, Hermann was unusually cheerful for the rest of the day.

8\. Happiness

Hermann had always thought that happiness meant being immersed in his work- but he was also finding that it could mean nothing more than watching cheesy old monster movies with Newton.

9\. Telephone

There are times when talking to Newt is much like a game of "telephone": what you say and what he thinks he hears are two very different things.

10\. Ears

Hermann's ears are almost comically large; Newt has secretly found them cute for some time.

11\. Name

When Newton went in search of Hannibal Chau, Hermann couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt for staying behind- he was sure the next time he heard the man's name would be an announcement of his death.

12\. Sensual

Hermann is usually so serious and uptight that it's hard to believe he could have any great prowess in bed, but he can be surprisingly sensual.

13\. Death

For days after the death of Stacker Pentecost, Newt stayed close to Hermann's side, as though afraid that being too far away would make him disappear.

14\. Sex

The first time they had sex was just after the Breach was closed; it was hurried and messy and fueled mostly by relief at being alive, and Newt walked around grinning for days afterward. 

15\. Touch

Newt is a very tactile person: he often needs to hug or kiss or touch or have some sort of physical contact just to feel close.

16\. Weakness

Hermann's father would have called his son's love for Newt a weakness (among other things), but since he met the excitable young scientist, Hermann has felt stronger than he can ever remember being. 

17\. Tears

Newt wipes tears of laughter from his eyes as he watches Tendo swear at the kaiju poop in his desk; he knows he'll pay for this, but it's worth it.

18\. Speed

Hermann keeps his arms firmly around Newt's middle as they speed through the streets on Newt's motorcycle, and wonders how he was ever talked into this.

19\. Wind

They hurry inside after yet another wet, windy day in Hong Kong, and laugh at the sight of each other's windblown hair. 

20\. Freedom

After the last kaiju falls and the clock reads zero, Newt and Hermann step outside into the cool night air and the sudden freedom they feel makes them want to laugh.

21\. Life

Life in the Shatterdome is always chaotic, but the K-Science lab can be an unexpected oasis of quiet- that is, when its resident scientists aren't squabbling.

22\. Jealous

Newt is jealous of Hannibal Chau- terrified, but also jealous. 

23\. Hands

Newt will often slip his hand into Hermann's, whether for comfort or reassurance or just to let Hermann know he's there.

24\. Taste

Despite Newt's insistence that he's a good cook, none of his creations actually taste like what they're supposed to be. 

25\. Devotion

Newt had never known anyone as dedicated to their work as Hermann Gottlieb.

26\. Forever

"IT'S ONLY FOREVERR...NOT LONG AT ALLL..." Newt strolls across the lab, crooning into an invisible microphone, and Hermann goes to find some earplugs.

27\. Blood

Kaiju blood seems to have seeped into every part of the lab: not just on Newton's side, but Hermann's as well. 

28\. Sickness

Getting Newt to stop moving and rest when he's sick is like herding cats; even with a 100-degree fever, he'll insist that he feels fine.

29\. Melody

Hermann has tried for months to get Newt interested in classical music- mostly because he thinks he might go mad if he hears one more AC/DC song. 

30\. Star

On clear nights, Hermann loves to sit outside with a blanket and a cup of tea and look at the stars; sometimes Newt joins him, but mostly he prefers to be alone.

31\. Home

The Shatterdome seemed cold and uninviting when they first arrived but now, almost a year later, it feels like home.

32\. Confusion

After awakening from the first Drift, it took Newt several moments to realize that he wasn't a kaiju; but he still remembers how it felt, even for an instant, to be so vast and powerful. 

33\. Fear

It wasn't annoyance that Hermann felt when he learned that his calculations were wrong, but fear- fear that his mistake would be the cause of their destruction.

 34. Lightning/Thunder

Newt jerks awake at the first clap of thunder- not out of fear, but excitement- and spends the rest of the night at the window, watching the storm.

35\. Bonds

"Drifting bonds people together like nothing else can": they had both heard it before, but neither one knew what it really meant until now.

36\. Market

Newt's fascination with the black market trade of kaiju parts makes Hermann more than a little nervous.

37\. Technology

Despite his anger, Hermann was rather impressed by Newt's ingenuity- the technology he'd used for the Drift was cobbled together from, among other things, a bellows and the circuit board from a cellphone. 

38\. Gift

They hadn't been dating for very long- only a few months- but Newt knew he'd found the perfect birthday gift (a series of books by Jules Verne) when Hermann's eyes lit up. 

39\. Smile

Newt has a way of smiling that can light up a room and make Hermann's heart skip several beats.

40\. Innocence

For all his genius, there's an innocence about Newton that can get him into trouble- and has, many times.

41\. Completion

Newt's presence in Hermann's life fills a space that he never knew was empty- but now, he can't imagine being without the scientist's big personality and infuriating cheerfulness.

42\. Clouds

After barely a month in the Shatterdome, Newt is already sick of the perpetual gray, cloudy weather.

43\. Sky

The sky outside their window is just beginning to glow with the first light of dawn; Newt sighs and snuggles up against the sleeping form of his boyfriend...he can sleep a bit longer. 

44\. Heaven

 For Newt, 'heaven' has come to mean being with Hermann- the same man who, barely a year ago, he couldn't stand- baggy sweaters and bad temper and all.

45\. Hell

Hermann didn't believe in Hell until he found Newt on the floor of the lab, convulsing and unresponsive, and realized he could do nothing to help. 

46\. Sun

Watery spring sunshine pours in through the grimy window, and Newt basks in it- working in the lab, it feels like days since he's seen the sun.

47\. Moon

Newt was floored the first time he saw the craters on the moon through Hermann's telescope; he talked about it for days, to the mathematician's delight.

48\. Waves

When Newt and Hermann started dating, the news spread through the Shatterdome like ripples in a puddle, and almost everyone seemed to have a bet on whether or not they would actually get together (Tendo probably started it).

49\. Hair

Newt loves to ruffle Hermann's immaculately-combed hair, to tease him or just to make him mad.

50\. Supernova

The first time Hermann kissed him, out of the blue in the middle of the lab, it hit him like a supernova and he was- for once- left speechless.

 


End file.
